The Trump International Hotel, Washington DC
Janhvi Bhojwani | CNBC
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed two cases over whether former President Donald Trump illegally benefited from his business while in office.
The lawsuits, which were filed by a nonprofit organization as well as the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia, alleged that the former president violated the emolument clauses of the Constitution, little-known provisions that prohibit to presidents receive gifts from local or foreign governments.
The cases were expected to be withdrawn after President Joe Biden was elected in November. Maryland, DC and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the nonprofit organization that led one of the cases, urged judges not to hear the matter.
Suits suffered slowly over much of Trump’s presidency, one of the unusual ethical conflicts inspired by the president’s refusal to divert his business empire from office. The action of the Supreme Court took place in an order without discrepancies.
Maryland and DC alleged that Trump violated this ban by receiving money when guests, often foreign officials, were staying at his Washington hotel.
CREW, which represented high-end companies that claimed to compete with Trump’s own establishments, filed similar complaints about Trump’s hotel and restaurant properties in New York City.
Deepak Gupta, a CREW lawyer, argued in court papers that his clients were at a “clear disadvantage in competing for the clientele of foreign and domestic governments: while they may offer the best hospitality, they may not offer the possibility of having favor the president. “
Two federal courts of appeal, based in New York and Richmond, handed down sentences that advanced the cases. In September, the Justice Department asked the higher court to overturn those rulings and dismiss the disputes.
After the Biden elections, the state governments and DC and CREW urged the court not to take the cases.
In a letter, Karl Racine, DC’s attorney general, told the court that “In any case, the outcome of the recent presidential election eliminates any need for that court’s intervention.”
CREW CEO Noah Bookbinder said in a statement on Monday that “this major litigation has made the American people aware for four years of the widespread corruption that caused a president to maintain a global business and receive profits and payments from foreign and domestic governments “.
“Only Trump losing the presidency and leaving office ended up with these corrupt constitutional violations that stopped these revolutionary demands,” Bookbinder said.
Racine and Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said in a joint statement that “we are proud that because of our case, a court ruled on the meaning of ’emoluments’ for the first time in American history, considering that the Constitution prohibits federal officials from accepting almost anything of value by foreign or domestic governments. “
“Our case proves once again that in our country no one (not even the president of the United States) is above the law,” they said.
The Trump Organization did not send any requests for comment.